Image processing system and image processing method

ABSTRACT

Two image processing systems and an image processing method are provided. One of the image processing systems includes a first unit configured to output a portion of input image data, a second unit configured to transform a coordinate of input image data, and a third unit configured to output the image data processed by the first unit and the second unit as video data to be displayed on a display. The other one of the image processing system further includes a fourth unit configured to combine input image data of a plurality of images to output one piece of image data. The image processing method includes outputting a portion of input image data, transforming a coordinate of input image data, and outputting the image data as video data to be displayed on a display.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.15/065,575, filed Mar. 9, 2016, which is based on and claims prioritypursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No.2015-046943, filed on Mar. 10, 2015, in the Japan Patent Office, theentire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an image processingsystem and an image processing method.

Background Art

An omnidirectional imaging systems that uses a plurality of wide-anglelenses such as fish-eye lenses and super-wide-angle lenses to capture anomnidirectional image at a time is known (hereinafter, such anomnidirectional image is referred to as a spherical image) (see, forexample, JP-2013-187860-A). Such an omnidirectional imaging systemprojects images from multiple lenses on the sensor plane, and joinsthese images together by image processing. Accordingly, a sphericalimage (omnidirectional image) is generated. For example, two wide-anglelenses that have angles of view of 180 degrees or wider may be used togenerate a spherical image.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention described herein provide two imageprocessing systems and an image processing method. One of the imageprocessing systems includes a first unit configured to output a portionof input image data, a second unit configured to transform a coordinateof input image data and output resultant image data, and a third unitconfigured to output the image data processed by the first unit and thesecond unit as video data to be displayed on a display. The other one ofthe image processing system includes a first unit configured to output aportion of input image data, a second unit configured to transform acoordinate of input image data and output resultant image data, a fourthunit configured to combine input image data of a plurality of images tooutput one piece of image data, and a third unit configured to outputthe image data processed by the first unit, the second unit, and thefourth unit. The image processing method includes outputting a portionof input image data, transforming a coordinate of input image data tooutput resultant image data, and outputting the image data processed inthe outputting and the transforming as video data to be displayed on adisplay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of exemplary embodiments and the manyattendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the samebecomes better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an omnidirectional camera according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hardware configuration of anomnidirectional camera according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks related a displayimage outputting function implemented on an omnidirectional camera,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of transformed sphericalimage in an omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of generated display imagein an omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the storing process in a first processing flowperformed by an omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the display-image outputting process in a firstprocessing flow performed by an omnidirectional camera, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the display-image outputting process in asecond processing flow performed by an omnidirectional camera, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are diagrams illustrating a projection relation inan omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are diagrams illustrating the data structure of theimage data of a spherical image (omnidirectional image), according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are diagrams illustrating a conversion parameterused by an omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention,

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, and FIG. 11C are diagrams illustrating a sphericalimage generated from two partial-view images in an omnidirectionalcamera, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the coordinate transformationperformed by an omnidirectional camera, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, and FIG. 13C are diagrams illustrating transformedspherical images generated by an omnidirectional camera by rotating animage at each point of interest, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict exemplary embodimentsof the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit thescope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered asdrawn to scale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing example embodiments shown in the drawings, specificterminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology soselected and it is to be understood that each specific element includesall technical equivalents that have the same structure, operate in asimilar manner, and achieve a similar result.

Some embodiments of the present invention are described below, but nolimitation is indicated therein and various applications andmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of theinvention. In the embodiments described below, as an example of an imageprocessing system and imaging system, an omnidirectional camera 100including both image processing capability and imaging capability usingtwo fish-eye lenses is described.

Hereinafter, the schematic configuration of an omnidirectional camera100 according to the present embodiment is described with reference toFIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the omnidirectionalcamera 100 according to the present embodiment. The omnidirectionalcamera 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an imaging body 12, a housing14 holding the imaging body 12 and other components such as a controllerboard and a battery, and a shutter button 18 provided on the housing 14.

The imaging body 12 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes two image formingoptical systems 20A and 20B and two imaging elements 22A and 22B. Eachof the imaging elements 22A and 22B may be, for example, acharge-coupled device (CCD) sensor or a complementary metal oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) sensor. Each of the image forming optical systems20 is configured as a fish-eye lens consisting of, for example, sevenelements in six groups. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 , theabove-mentioned fish-eye lens has a full angle of view of larger than180 degrees (=360 degrees/n, where n denotes the number of opticalsystems and n is 2), preferably has an angle of view of 190 degrees orlarger. Such a wide-angle combination of one of the image formingoptical systems 20 and one of the imaging elements 22 is referred to asa wide-angle imaging optical system.

The relative positions of the optical elements (lenses, prisms, filters,and aperture stops) of the two image firming optical systems 20A and 20Bare determined with reference to the imaging elements 22A and 22B. Morespecifically, positioning is made such that the optical axis of theoptical elements of each of the image forming optical systems 20A and20B is positioned at the central part of the light receiving area ofcorresponding one of the imaging elements 22 orthogonally to the lightreceiving area, and such that the light receiving area serves as theimaging plane of corresponding. one of the fish-eye lenses.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 , the image forming opticalsystems 20A and 20B have the same specifications, and are combined indirections reverse to each other such that the optical axes thereofcoincide with each other. The imaging elements 22A and 22B convert thelight distribution of the received light into an image signal, andsequentially output image frames to the image processing block of thecontroller board. As will be described later in detail, the imagescaptured by the respective imaging elements 22A and 22B are combined soas to generate an image over a solid angle of 4π steradian (hereinafter,such an image is referred to as a “spherical image”). The sphericalimage is obtained by photographing all the directions viewable from aphotographing location. While it is assumed in the example embodimentdescribed below that a spherical image is to be generated, a so-calledpanoramic image obtained by photographing 360 degrees only in ahorizontal plane or an image that is a part of the image obtained byphotographing onmidirectionaly or 360 degrees in a horizontal plane mayalso be generated. The spherical image may be stored as a still image oras moving images.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hardware configuration of theomnidirectional camera 100 according to the present embodiment. Theomnidirectional camera 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 112,a read only memory (ROM) 114, an image processing block 116, amoving-image compression block 118, a dynamic random access memory(DRAM) 132 that is connected through a DRAM interface 120, and anattitude sensor 136 that is connected through an external sensorinterface 124.

The CPU 112 controls the operations of components of the omnidirectionalcamera 100, or controls the overall operations of the omnidirectionalcamera 100. The ROM 114 stores therein a control program described in acode readable by the CPU 112 and various kinds of parameters. The imageprocessing block 116 is connected to two imaging elements 130A and 130B(corresponding to the imaging elements 22A and 22B in FIG. 1 ), andreceives image signals of images captured by the respective imagingelements 130A and 130B. The image processing block 116 includes, forexample, an image signal processor (ISP), and applies, for example,shading correction, Bayer interpolation, white balance correction, andgamma correction to the image signals received from the imaging elements130A and 130B. Further, the image processing block 116 combines themultiple images obtained from the imaging elements 130A and 130B togenerate a spherical image as described above.

The moving-image compression block 118 is a codec block for compressingand expanding the moving images such as those in MPEG-4 AVC/H264 format.The moving-image compression block 118 is used to store the video dataof the generated spherical image, or to reproduce and output the storedvideo data. The DRAM 132 provides a storage area for temporarily storingdata therein when various types of signal processing and imageprocessing are applied.

The attitude sensor 136 is configured by an acceleration sensor, agyroscope sensor, or a geomagnetic sensor, or the combination thereof,and is used to determine the attitude of the omnidirectional camera 100.For example, a three-axis acceleration sensor can detect accelerationcomponents along three axes. For example, a three-axis gyroscope sensorcan detect angular velocity along three axes. For example, a geomagneticsensor can measure the direction of the magnetic field. Each of theoutputs from these sensors may be used to obtain three attitude anglesof the omnidirectional camera 100, or a combination of the outputs fromthese sensors may be used to obtain three attitude angles of theomnidirectional camera 100. The data that is obtained from the attitudesensor 136 is used to perform zenith correction on a spherical image.Moreover, the data that is obtained from the attitude sensor 136 may beused to perform image rotation according to a point of interest, as willbe described later.

The omnidirectional camera 100 further includes an external storageinterface 122, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 126, a serialblock 128, and a picture output interface 129. The external storageinterface 122 is connected to an external storage 134 such as a memorycard inserted in a memory card slot, The external storage interface 122controls reading and writing to the external storage 134.

The USB interface 126 is connected to a USB connector 138. The USBinterface 126 controls USB communication with an external device such asa personal computer (PC) connected via the USB connector 138. The serialblock 128 controls serial communication with an external device such asa PC, and is connected to a wireless network interface card (NIC) 140.The picture output interface 129 is an interface to connect to anexternal display such as a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI,registered trademark), and can output an image to be recorded, an imagebeing recorded, or a recorded image to such an external display as apicture.

Note that the USB connector 138, the wireless NIC 140, and the pictureoutput interface 129 with the HDMI (registered trademark) are given asan example, but no limitation is intended thereby. In an alternativeembodiment, connection to an external device may be established througha wired connection such as wired local area network (LAN), anotherwireless connection such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) andwireless USB, or through another picture output interface such asDisplayPort (registered trademark) and video graphics array (VGA).

When the power is turned on by the operation of a power switch, thecontrol program mentioned above is loaded into the main memory. The CPU112 follows the program read into the main memory to control theoperations of the parts of the device, and temporarily stores the data.required for the control in the memory. This operation implementsfunctional units and processes of the omnidirectional camera 100, aswill be described later.

As described above, the omnidirectional camera 100 according to thepresent embodiment is used to capture a still image of a spherical imageor to record the moving images of a spherical image. In some cases, aspecial-purpose viewer that converts a spherical image into an imagesuitable for a planar device is used to view a recorded spherical image.On the other hand, there is a demand for displaying a spherical imagecaptured by the omnidirectional camera 100 on a general-purpose vieweror display, which displays an input image just as it is, instead of aspecial-purpose viewer. There is also a demand for so-called live view,i.e., capturing an object while displaying it for check on the displayconnected to the camera.

However, if the omnidirectional camera 100 is provided with theprocessing equivalent to that of a special-purpose viewer, theinstrumentation cost of the omnidirectional camera 100 increases, andthe power consumption and the amount of heat generation in imageprocessing also increase.

In order to avoid such situation, in the present embodiment, coordinatetransformation is performed on a spherical image based on the point ofinterest determined by the data output from a sensor, and a portion ofthe spherical image on which the coordinate transformation leas beenperformed is extracted. Accordingly, a displayed image to be output isgenerated. In a preferred embodiment, a center portion of thetransformed spherical image is extracted to generate as a display imagean image extracted from a spherical image around a point of interest.

According to the configuration described as above, a display imageextracted from a spherical image, about which a viewer does not feelawkward, can be generated with a small amount of load. In a preferredembodiment, coordinate transformation is performed such that an imagehaving a point of interest at the center is placed at a center portionof a spherical image where the amount of distortion is small. As aresult, the image of the center portion is extracted and output as adisplay image. Accordingly, a viewer can view a natural-looking imagewithout using a special-purpose viewer. Moreover, the coordinatetransformation is integrated into the omnidirectional camera 100 forperforming zenith correction, and no extra instrumentation cost isrequired for the omnidirectional camera 100. Further, the powerconsumption and the amount of heat generation in image processing canalso be reduced.

In the present embodiment described below, it is configured such that adisplay image output to an external display connected through thepicture output interface 129. However, no limitation is intended by suchan embodiment. In an alternative embodiment, a user terminal device suchas a smartphone or a tablet personal computer (PC) connected through awired or wireless connection such as the USB connector 138 or thewireless NIC 140 may be used to display a spherical image. In suchcases, an application of a general-purpose viewer operating on the userterminal device is activated, and the image output from theomnidirectional camera 100 can be displayed on the general-purposeviewer. In an alternative embodiment, a display image may be displayedon the display provided for the omnidirectional camera 100 when theomnidirectional camera 100 is provided with a display.

Hereinafter, the display image outputting function of theomnidirectional camera 100 according to the present embodiment isdescribed schematically with reference to FIG. 3 , FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4B.FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating functional blocks 200 related a displayimage outputting function implemented on the omnidirectional camera 100,according to the present embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 , the functional block 200 of theomnidirectional camera 100 includes a captured-image acquisition unit202, a joining unit 204, a zenith correction unit 206, a spherical-imagegeneration unit 208, an image compression unit 210, an image developingunit 212, a point-of-interest determining unit 214, an image rotatingunit 216, a transformed-spherical-image generation unit 218, anextraction unit 220, a magnifying and letterbox adding unit 222, and anoutput unit 224.

FIG. 3 illustrates two flows of image processing. In the first flow, aspherical image that is captured by the omnidirectional camera 100 istemporarily stored, arid the display image of the stored spherical imageis output in response to an operation made by a user. The image data ofthe stored spherical image may be a still image or moving images. Thefirst flow corresponds to cases in which image data is viewed after theimage data is recorded. In the second flow, the display image of aspherical image is generated and output while the omnidirectional camera100 is capturing the spherical image. The second flow corresponds tocases in which the capturing state is viewed in real time before theimage data is stored or while the image data is being stored.

Hereinafter, the first processing flow that corresponds to cases inwhich image data is viewed after the image data is recorded is firstlydescribed. The captured-image acquisition unit 202 controls the twoimaging elements 130A and 130B to obtain the captured image from each ofthe two imaging elements 130A and 130B. In the case of a still image,two captured images of one frame are obtained at the timing when theshutter is pressed. In the case of moving images, continuous frames arecaptured in succession, and two captured images are obtained for each ofthe frames. Each of the images captured by the imaging elements 130A and130B is a fish-eye image that roughly covers a hemisphere of the wholesphere as a field of view, configures a partial-view image of theomnidirectional image. Hereinafter, each one of the images captured bythe imaging elements 130A and 130B may be referred to as a partial-viewimage.

The joining unit 204 detect the joining position of the obtained twopartial-view images, and joins the two partial-view images at thedetected joining position. In the joining position detection process,the amount of displacement among a plurality of corresponding points inan overlapping area of the multiple partial-view images is detected foreach frame.

The zenith correction unit 206 controls the attitude sensor 136illustrated in FIG. 2 to detect the attitude angle of theomnidirectional camera 100, and corrects the generated spherical image(omnidirectional image such that the zenith direction of the sphericalimage matches a prescribed reference direction. Typically, theprescribed reference direction refers to a vertical direction in whichthe acceleration of gravity is applied. By correcting the generatedspherical image such that the zenith direction of the spherical imagematches the vertical direction (i.e., the direction towards the sky),the possibility of causing awkwardness such as simulator sickness to auser can be prevented even when the field of view is changed while animage is being viewed. Such prevention of awkwardness such as simulatorsickness is effective particularly in moving images.

The spherical-image generation unit 208 generates a spherical image fromtwo captured partial-view images in view of the processing results ofthe joining unit 204 and the zenith correction unit 206. In theembodiment described below, a conversion parameter is used to generate aspherical image from two partial-view images, and the joining unit 204reflects the result of the joining position detection in the conversionparameter. The zenith correction unit 206 reflects the result of thezenith correction in the conversion parameter. Then, the spherical-imagegeneration unit 208 uses the conversion parameter that reflects theseresults of processing to generate a spherical image from twopartial-view images. By so doing, the load of processing for obtaining afinal spherical image can be reduced.

However, no limitation is intended thereby. For example, twopartial-view images may be joined together to generate a sphericalimage, and zenith correction is performed on the generated sphericalimage. A spherical image on which zenith correction has been performedmay be generated in this manner. Note that the conversion parameter willbe described later in detail.

The image compression unit 210 includes a still-image compressing block,and when a still image is captured, the image compression unit 210compresses the captured still image into image data of a prescribedstill-image format such as a Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)format. The image compression unit 210 also includes the moving-imagecompression block 118 as illustrated in FIG. 2 , and when moving imagesare recorded, the image compression unit 210 compresses the recordedcontinuous image frames into image data of a prescribed moving-imageformat. No limitation is intended hereby, but the moving-imagecompressed format includes various types of formats such as H.264/MovingPicture Experts Group (MPEG)-4 advanced video coding (AVC), H.265/HighEfficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Motion JPEG, and Motion JPEG 2000. Thegenerated image data is stored in a storage device such as the externalstorage 134 provided for the omnidirectional camera 100 or a flashmemory provided for the omnidirectional camera 100.

In the first processing flow, the functional units 212 to 224 operate,for example, in response to picture output instructions made through theomnidirectional camera 100. Here, the picture output instructionsspecify an object to be reproduced. The image developing unit 212 readsthe image data stored in the storage device to obtain to obtain aspherical image. The obtained spherical image is developed in a memory.

The point-of-interest determining unit 214 determines apoint-of-interest based on the data output from the attitude sensor 136.In the first processing flow, the omnidirectional camera 100 no longerperforms any imaging operation in the following picture outputprocesses. Accordingly, the omnidirectional camera 100 may be used as anoperation controller that controls the point of interest. Based on thedata output from the attitude sensor 136, the points of interest (i.e.,the attitude angles of the camera α, and β, and γ) that indicate thedirection in which the omnidirectional camera 100 points are determined.The point-of-interest determining unit 214 may serve as a decision unitaccording to the present embodiment.

In the first processing flow, the zenith correction has already beenperformed on the spherical image to be displayed. For this reason,although no limitation is intended thereby, the attitude angles of theomnidirectional camera 100 can be defined with reference to the state inwhich the omnidirectional camera 100 as an operation controller pointsthe right above (i.e., the state in which the omnidirectional camera 100as illustrated in FIG. 1 is vertically oriented such that the imagingbody 12 points the upward). In the embodiment described below, theomnidirectional camera 100 is used as an operation controller. However,an external device that includes an attitude sensor such as adedicated-to-operation controller, a smartphone, a tablet PC, and ahead-mounted display and can communicate with the omnidirectional camera100 may separately be provided as an operation controller.

The image rotating unit 216 performs coordinate transformation on aspherical image based on the point of interest determined by thepoint-of-interest determining unit 214. More specifically, thecoordinate transformation indicates the processing in which thecoordinates of the omnidirectional image are three-dimensionally androtationally transformed according to the angle that corresponds to thepoints of interest. Note that the coordinate transformation will bedescribed later in detail. The image rotating unit 216 may serve as acoordinate transformation unit according to the present embodiment.

The transformed-spherical-image generation unit 218 generates from anoriginal spherical image a transformed spherical image that correspondsto a point of interest, based on the result of the coordinatetransformation. The transformed-spherical-image generation unit 218 mayserve as an image generation unit according to the present embodiment.FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of transformed sphericalimage generated in the omnidirectional camera 100, according to thepresent embodiment. The coordinates of the transformed spherical imageare transformed such that the point of interest is laid out at thecenter of the image. Accordingly, the center point of the sphericalimage illustrated in FIG. 4A corresponds to the determined point ofinterest.

The extraction unit 220 extracts a portion of the transformed sphericalimage on which the coordinate transformation has been performed, togenerate an extracted image. In a preferred embodiment, the extractionunit 220 extracts a center portion of the transformed spherical image.Accordingly, an image of certain size is extracted from the sphericalimage around the point of interest. In FIG. 4A, the center portion thatis to be extracted from the spherical image is indicated by the brokenline in a rectangular shape. The extraction unit 220 may serve as anextraction unit according to the present embodiment.

Note that in the embodiment described below, the extraction unit is usedto extract a portion of an image to generate an extracted image.However, in an alternative embodiment, the extraction unit may alsoreduce the resolution in addition to the function of extracting aportion of an image to generate an extracted image. In the embodimentdescribed below, the processing of the extraction unit 220 is performedafter the image rotating unit 216 performs the processing. However, nolimitation is intended thereby and the order of the processing may vary.

The magnifying and letterbox adding unit 222 magnifies the imageextracted by the extraction unit 220 according to the resolution andaspect ratio of the destination device such as a display or theresolution and aspect ratio of the picture output device such as aprojector, and adds black letterboxes to the upper and lower portions ofthe magnified extracted image. Accordingly, a display image isgenerated. The output unit 224 outputs through the picture outputinterface 129 the display image that is processed and generated by themagnifying and letterbox adding unit 222. Note that when the extractedimage has the resolution and aspect ratio consistent with those of thepicture output device, the processing of the magnifying and letterboxadding unit 222 may be omitted.

FIG. 4B illustrates a display image output from the output unit 224based on the spherical image illustrated in FIG. 4A, in theomnidirectional camera 100 according to the present embodiment. Asillustrated in FIG. 4A, the peripheral area of the spherical image isdistorted to a large degree, but the center portion of the sphericalimage is relatively less distorted. For this reason, as illustrated inFIG. 4B, a display image that is generated by extracting the centerportion becomes a natural-looking image for a viewer.

In the cases of a still image, the picture output processes by thefunctional units 214 to 224 are repeatedly performed on a same sphericalimage at least every time the point of interest is changed. Typically,the picture output processes are performed at prescribed intervals. Thedisplay image is updated according to the point of interest at thattime. In the cases of moving images, typically, the picture outputprocesses by the functional units 212 to 224 are repeatedly performedfor each frame, and the display image is updated.

The omnidirectional camera 100 that serves as an operation controller isinclined or rotated towards the front, rear and sides of theomnidirectional camera 100 with reference to the state in which theomnidirectional camera 100 is oriented to the upward direction, and thepoint of interest is changed accordingly. As a result, the display imageof a spherical image can be viewed according to the changed point ofinterest.

Secondly, the second processing flow that corresponds to cases in whichimage data is viewed in real time before the image data is recorded orwhile the image data is being recorded is described with reference toFIG. 3 . In the second processing flow, the functional units 202, 204,and 214 to 224 operate in response to instructions for starting the liveviewing.

In a similar manner to the first processing flow, the captured-imageacquisition unit 202 controls the two imaging elements 130A and 130B toobtain for each frame two partial-view images from each of the twoimaging elements 130A and 130B. Then, the captured-image acquisitionunit 202 develops the obtained two partial-view images in a memory. Thejoining unit 204 detect the joining position of the obtained twopartial-view images, and reflects the result of the joining positiondetection in the conversion parameter.

The point-of-interest determining unit 214 determines apoint-of-interest based on the data output from the attitude sensor ofthe operation controller. In the second processing flow, theomnidirectional camera 100 still performs imaging operation in thefollowing picture output processes. For this reason, an operationcontroller that controls the point of interest needs to be providedseparately. In the present embodiment, an external device that includesan attitude sensor such as a dedicated-to-operation controller, asmartphone, a tablet PC, and a head-mounted display and can communicatewith the omnidirectional camera 100 can be used as an operationcontroller. Based on the data output from the attitude sensor of theoperation controller, the points of interest (i.e., the attitude anglesof the operation controller α, β, and γ) that indicate the direction inwhich the operation controller points are obtained.

The image rotating unit 216 performs coordinate transformation on aspherical image based on the point of interest determined by thepoint-of-interest determining unit 214. More specifically, the imagerotating unit 216 three-dimensionally and rotationally transforms thecoordinates of the spherical image according to the angle thatcorresponds to point of interest. The result that is obtained by theimage rotating unit 216 is reflected in a conversion parameter used togenerate a spherical image from two partial-view images.

The transformed-spherical-image generation unit 218 combines theobtained two captured partial-view images using the conversion parameterthat reflects the result of the processing performed by the joining unit204 and the image rotating unit 216, to generate a transformed sphericalimage in a direct manner.

In the second processing flow, the attitude of the omnidirectionalcamera 100 that captures a spherical image may also change in additionto the attitude of the operation controller that controls a point ofinterest. For this reason, it is desired that the image rotating unit216 perform the three-dimensional and rotational transformation in viewof the zenith correction that is performed according to the attitude ofthe omnidirectional camera 100. For example, when the omnidirectionalcamera 100 and the operation controller point the upward direction, thereference is defined such that the zenith of the spherical image matchesthe direction of gravity (i.e., the direction towards the sky), and thethree-dimensional and rotational transformation is performed.

Next, in a similar manner to the first processing flow, the extractionunit 220 extracts a portion of the transformed spherical image togenerate an extracted image. Then, the magnifying and letterbox addingunit 222 magnifies the image extracted by the extraction unit 220, andadds a black letterbox to the magnified extracted image. The output unit224 outputs through the picture output interface 129 the display imagethat is processed and generated by the magnifying and letterbox addingunit 222. The processes of the functional units 202, 204, and 214 to 224are repeatedly performed for each frame.

In the second processing flow, for example, capturing may be performedupon fixing the position of the omnidirectional camera 100. In suchcases, the external operation controller is inclined or rotated towardsthe front, rear and sides of the operation controller with reference tothe state in which the operation controller is oriented to the upwarddirection, and the point of interest is changed accordingly. As aresult, the live viewing of a spherical image can be achieved accordingto the changed point of interest. Note that in the above description,the zenith correction of the omnidirectional camera 100 is reflected inthe rotational transform. Accordingly, regardless of the inclination ofthe omnidirectional camera 100 with reference to the vertical direction,the attitude of the operation controller can be changed and it becomeseasier to determine a point of interest through intuition with referenceto the direction of gravity sensed by a user. However, no limitation isintended thereby. In an alternative embodiment, a point of interest maybe controlled only by the attitude of an operation controller withoutperforming zenith correction according to the attitude of theomnidirectional camera 100.

Hereinafter, the display image outputting function of theomnidirectional camera 100 according to the present embodiment isdescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 13C. FIG. 5 andFIG. 6 are flowcharts of the storing process and the display-imageoutputting process in a first processing flow performed by theomnidirectional camera 100, according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7is a flowchart of the display-image outputting process in a secondprocessing flow performed by the omnidirectional camera 100, the presentembodiment.

Hereinafter, the processes that are performed in the first processingflow are described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 . The recordingprocesses as depicted in FIG. 5 start in response to instructions forstorage processes such as the depression of a shutter button. Note thatthe processes FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 correspond to cases in which a stillimage is captured and viewed. In a step S101, the omnidirectional camera100 uses the captured-image acquisition unit 202 to obtain the capturedimage from each of the two imaging elements 130A and 130B.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are diagrams illustrating a projection relation inthe omnidirectional camera 100, according to the present embodiment. Inthe present embodiment, an image captured by one fish-eye lens is animage obtained by capturing an orientation range of substantially ahemisphere with reference to a photographing location. As illustrated inFIG. 8A, the fish-eye lens generates an image having an image height hthat corresponds to an angle of incidence φ with reference to theoptical axis. The relation between the image height h and the angle ofincidence φ is determined by a projection function according to aprescribed projection model.

The projection function varies according to the properties of thefish-eye lens. The projection model may be any of the equidistantprojection (h=f*φ), the central projection (h=f*tan φ), thestereographic projection (h=2f*tan(φ/2)), the equi-solid-angleprojection (h=2f*tan(φ/2)), and the orthogonal projection (h=f*sin φ).In any of the projections, the image height h of a formed image isdetermined according to the incident angle φ and the focal length f withreference to the optical axis. In the present embodiment, theconfiguration of a so-called circular fish-eye lens that has an imagecircle diameter shorter than a diagonal line of the image is adopted. Asillustrated in FIG. 8B, the partial-view image obtained from the lens isa planar image including the entire image circle obtained by projectingthe captured range of substantially a hemisphere.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are diagrams illustrating the data structure of theimage data of a spherical image (omnidirectional image), according tothe present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B, theformat of a spherical image is expressed as an array of pixel valueswhere the vertical angle φ corresponding to the angle with reference toa certain axis and the horizontal angle θ corresponding to the angle ofrotation around the axis are the coordinates. The coordinate values (θ,φ) are associated with the points on the spherical surface indicatingall directions around the photographing location, and the all directionsare mapped on the spherical image (omnidirectional image).

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are diagrams illustrating the conversion parameterused by the omnidirectional camera 100, according to the presentembodiment. The conversion parameter provides for the projection ofpartial-view images expressed in a planar coordinate system as an imageexpressed in a spherical coordinate system. As illustrated in FIG. 10Aand FIG. 10B, for each fish-eye lens, the conversion parameter providesfor the associating information between the coordinate values (θ, φ) ofthe post-correction images and the coordinate values (x, y) of thepre-correction partial-view images that are mapped on the coordinatevalues (θ, φ), for all the coordinate values (θ, φ). In the illustrationof FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B, the angle of each one of the pixels isone-tenths of a degree in both φ direction and θ direction, and theconversion parameter includes the data indicating the 3600×1800corresponding relation for each fish-eve lens. The original conversionparameter may be created by calculating and tabulating the value uponcorrecting the distortion from an optimal lens model in advance by amanufacturer or the like.

Here, FIG. 5 is referred to again. In a step S102, the omnidirectionalcamera 100 uses the joining unit 204 to detect the joining position ofthe obtained two partial-view images in the overlapping area and reflectthe result of the joining position detection in the conversionparameter. Due to the reflection of the result of the joining positiondetection, the conversion parameters as depicted in FIG. 10A arecorrected such that the coordinate values (x, y) of the partial-viewimage in which the correction of the joining position is reflectedcorresponds to the coordinate values (θ, φ) of the post-correctionimages.

In a step S103, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the zenithcorrection unit 206 to detect the attitude angle of the omnidirectionalcamera 100 with reference to the direction of gravity, and corrects theconversion parameter such that the zenith direction of the generatedspherical image matches the vertical direction. The zenith correctioncan be performed in a similar manner to the three-dimensional androtational transformation as will be described later in detail. Thedetailed description of the zenith correction is not given here. In astep S104, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the spherical-imagegeneration unit 208 to generate a spherical image from two capturedpartial-view images using the conversion parameter. In the step S104,firstly, the conversion parameter is used to convert the coordinatesystem of a partial-view image from a planar coordinate system to aspherical coordinate system. Then, the two partial-view images of aspherical coordinate system are combined with each other to generate aspherical image.

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, and FIG. 11C are diagrams illustrating a sphericalimage generated from two partial-view images in the omnidirectionalcamera 100, according to the present embodiment. FIG. 11A and FIG. 11Cillustrate two partial-view images that are captured in a state wherethe upward direction of the omnidirectional camera 100 does not matchthe vertical line. FIG. 11B illustrates the spherical image generated byperforming the zenith correction on these two partial-view imagesillustrated in FIG. 11A and FIG. 11C. In the example illustrated in FIG.11A, FIG. 11B, and FIG. 11C, the omnidirectional camera 100 is inclinedsuch that one of the fish-eye lenses is oriented towards the ground andthe other one of the fish-eye lenses is oriented towards the sky, andthe first and second partial-view images are captured. As understandfrom FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, and FIG. 11C, the omnidirectional image iscorrected by the zenith correction as described above such that thehorizontal line in the scene is at the center of the spherical image.

Here, FIG. 5 is referred to again. In a step S105, the omnidirectionalcamera 100 uses the image compression unit 210 to compress the imagedata of the generated spherical image. In a step S106, theomnidirectional camera 100 stores the generated image data in thestorage device. Then, the process is terminated.

The display-image outputting process as depicted in FIG. 6 starts inresponse to picture output instructions that specify the image data. Ina step S201, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the image developingunit 212 to read the image data of the specified spherical image fromthe storage device. In a step S202, the omnidirectional camera 100 usesthe image developing unit 212 to develop the spherical image in amemory.

In a step S203, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses thepoint-of-interest determining unit 214 to determine thepoint-of-interests (i.e., the attitude angles of the camera α, β, and γ)based on the data output from the attitude sensor 136 of theomnidirectional camera 100. In the present embodiment, the accelerationsensor, the gyroscope sensor, and the geomagnetic sensor are used in acombined manner to obtain the attitude angles of the camera α, β, and γwith reference to the state in which the camera is oriented towards theupward direction. In a step S204, the omnidirectional camera 100 usesthe image rotating unit 216 to perform coordinate transformation on aspherical image based on the point of interest determined in the stepS203. In the coordinate transformation of the step S204, the coordinatevalues (θ1, φ1) of the spherical image are used as the input values toperform the coordinate transformation. Accordingly, the transformedcoordinate values (θ2, φ2) are obtained.

Here, the coordinate transformation is described in detail. FIG. 12 is adiagram illustrating the coordinate transformation performed by theomnidirectional camera 100, according to the present embodiment. In thepresent embodiment, the three-dimensional rectangular coordinates andspherical coordinates before performing coordinate transformation areexpressed as (x1, y1, z1) and (θ1, φ1), respectively. In a similarmanner, the three-dimensional rectangular coordinates and sphericalcoordinates after performing coordinate transformation are expressed as(x2, y2, z2) and (θ2, φ2), respectively.

In the coordinate transformation, the following formulas (1) to (6) areused to transform the spherical coordinates (θ1, φ1) into the sphericalcoordinates (θ2, φ2). The coordinate transformation includes thecoordinate transformation that corresponds to the formulas (1) to (3),the coordinate transformation that corresponds to the formula (4), andthe coordinate transformation that corresponds to the formulas (5) and(6).

$\begin{matrix}{{x\; 1} = {{\sin\left( {\phi\; 1} \right)}{\cos({\theta 1})}}} & (1) \\{{y\; 1} = {{\sin({\phi 1})}{\sin({\theta 1})}}} & (2) \\{{z\; 1} = {\cos\left( {\phi\; 1} \right)}} & (3) \\{\begin{pmatrix}{x\; 2} \\{y\; 2} \\{z\; 2}\end{pmatrix} = {\begin{pmatrix}1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & {\cos\;\alpha} & {\sin\;\alpha} \\0 & {{- \sin}\;\alpha} & {\cos\;\alpha}\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}{\cos\;\beta} & 0 & {{- \sin}\;\beta} \\0 & 1 & 0 \\{\sin\;\beta} & 0 & {\cos\;\beta}\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}{\cos\;\gamma} & {\sin\;\gamma} & 0 \\{{- \sin}\;\gamma} & {\cos\;\gamma} & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}{x\; 1} \\{y\; 1} \\{z\; 1}\end{pmatrix}}} & (4) \\{{\phi 2} = {{Arc}\;{\cos\left( {z\; 2} \right)}}} & (5) \\{{\theta\; 2} = {{Arc}\;{\tan\left( \frac{y\; 2}{x\; 2} \right)}}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

Firstly, the rotational transform is to be performed using thethree-dimensional rectangular coordinates. The formulas (1) to (3) asdescribed above are used to transform the spherical coordinates (θ1, φ1)into the three-dimensional rectangular coordinates (x1, y1, z1).

Secondly, the attitude angles α, β, and γ of the omnidirectional camera,which are given as a point of interest, are used to transform thethree-dimensional rectangular coordinates (x1, y1, z1) intothree-dimensional rectangular coordinates (x2, y2, z2), using theformula (4). In other words, the formula (4) defines the attitude angles(α, β, and γ). More specifically, when the formula (4) is used, theoriginal coordinates are rotated around the x axis by α, rotated aroundthe y axis by β, and are rotated around the z axis by γ. Accordingly,transformed coordinates are obtained.

Finally, the formulas (5) and (6) are used to turn the transformedthree-dimensional rectangular coordinates (x2, y2, z2) back to thespherical coordinates (θ2, φ2).

Here, FIG. 6 is referred to again. In a step S205, the omnidirectionalcamera 100 uses the transformed-spherical-image generation unit 218 togenerate from the original spherical image a transformed spherical imagethat corresponds to a point of interest, based on the result of thecoordinate transformation. In the coordinate transformation of the stepS204, the coordinate values (θ1, φ1) of the spherical image are used asthe input values. Accordingly, the transformed coordinate values (θ2,φ2) are obtained. In other words, the generation process of atransformed spherical image is equivalent to the process of applying thepixel values of the transformed coordinate values (θ2, φ2), which areobtained from the coordinate values (θ1, φ1) as described above, to theinput pixel values of the coordinate values (θ1, φ1) of the sphericalimage to obtain the pixel values of the transformed spherical image. Byperforming these processes as described above, a transformed sphericalimage is generated.

In a step S206, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the extraction unit220 to extract the center portion of the transformed spherical image togenerate an extracted image. For example, such an extracted image may beextracted from the center of the spherical image with the one-half sizeof the spherical image lengthwise and breadthwise. In a step S207, theomnidirectional camera 100 uses the magnifying and letterbox adding unit222 to magnify the extracted image according to the resolution andaspect ratio of the destination picture output device and add a blackletterbox to the magnified extracted image. Accordingly, a display imageis generated. In a step S208, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses theoutput unit 224 to output the generated display image through thepicture output interface 129. Then, the process is terminated.

In the case of a still image, the processes in the steps S203 to S208 asdepicted in FIG. 6 are repeated every time the attitude of theomnidirectional camera 100 is changed and the point of interest ischanged. Alternatively, the processes in the steps S203 to S208 arerepeated at prescribed intervals. In the case of moving images, theprocesses in the steps S201 to S208 as depicted in FIG. 6 are repeatedfor each frame of image.

Hereinafter, the processes that are performed in the second processingflow are described with reference to FIG. 7 . The display-imageoutputting process as depicted in FIG. 7 starts in response toinstructions for starting live viewing. In a step S301, theomnidirectional camera 100 uses the captured-image acquisition unit 202to obtain the captured image from each of the two imaging elements 130Aand 130B.

In a step S302, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the joining unit 204to detect the joining position of the obtained two partial-view imagesin the overlapping area and reflect the result of the joining positiondetection in the conversion parameter. Due to the reflection of theresult of the joining position detection, the conversion parameters asdepicted in FIG. 10A are corrected such that the coordinate values (x,y) of the partial-view image in which the correction of the joiningposition is reflected corresponds to the coordinate values (θ, φ) of thepost-correction images.

In a step S303, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses thepoint-of-interest determining unit 214 to determine thepoint-of-interests (i.e., the attitude angles of the operationcontroller α, β, and γ) based on the data output from the attitudesensor of the external operation controller. In the present embodiment,the acceleration sensor, the gyroscope sensor, and the geomagneticsensor are used in a combined manner to obtain the attitude angles ofthe operation controller α, β, and γ with reference to the state inwhich the operation controller is oriented towards the upward direction.Note that in the step S303, the attitude angles of the omnidirectionalcamera 100 are also detected, and the detected attitude angles of thecamera α, β, and γ are corrected such that the zenith direction of thespherical image matches the vertical direction in the state where theoperation controller is oriented towards the upward direction (i.e., inthe state where the attitude angles (α, β, γ)=(0, 0, 0)). In thefollowing description of the present embodiment, for the sake ofexplanatory convenience, it is assumed that the omnidirectional camera100 is oriented towards the upward direction and fixed while an image isbeing captured.

In a step S304, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the image rotatingunit 216 to correct the conversion parameter based on the point ofinterest determined in the step S303. In the coordinate transformationof the step S304, the post-conversion coordinate values (θ, φ) as theconversion parameters depicted in FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B, whichcorrespond to the coordinate values of the spherical image, are used asthe input values (θ1, φ1) to perform the coordinate transformation.Accordingly, the transformed coordinate values (θ2, φ2) are obtainedusing the formulas (1) to (6) as described above. As the coordinatetransformation has been described with reference to FIG. 12 , thedescription of the coordinate transformation is omitted here.

In a step S305, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses thetransformed-spherical-image generation unit 218 to generate atransformed spherical image directly from two captured partial-viewimages using the conversion parameter that reflects the result of thecoordinate transformation. The coordinate values (θ, φ) as theconversion parameters are used as the input values (θ1, φ1) to calculatethe transformed coordinate values (θ2, φ2). In other words, thegeneration process of a transformed spherical image is equivalent to theprocess of applying the pixel values of the coordinate values (x, y) ofthe partial-view image that corresponds to the transformed coordinatevalues (θ2, φ2), which are obtained from the coordinate values (θ1, φ1)as described above, to the input pixel values of the coordinate values(θ1, φ1) of the spherical image to obtain the pixel values of thetransformed spherical image. Accordingly, two partial-view images thatare developed in a spherical coordinate system are obtained. Then, thetwo partial-view images of a spherical coordinate system are combinedwith each other to generate a transformed spherical image.

In a step S306, the omnidirectional camera 100 uses the extraction unit220 to extract the center portion of the transformed spherical image togenerate an extracted image. In a step S307, the omnidirectional camera100 uses the magnifying and letterbox adding unit 222 to magnify theextracted image according to the resolution and aspect ratio of thedestination device and add a black letterbox to the magnified extractedimage. Accordingly, a display image is generated. In a step S308, theomnidirectional camera 100 uses the output unit 224 to output thegenerated display image through the picture output interface 129. Then,the process is terminated.

Note that the processes in the steps S301 to S308 as illustrated in FIG.7 are repeated for each frame interval.

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, and FIG. 13C are diagrams illustrating transformedspherical images generated by the omnidirectional camera 100 by rotatingan image according to each point of interest, with the center portionsto be extracted from these transformed spherical images, according tothe present embodiment. FIG. 13B illustrates a transformed sphericalimage at a point of interest that serve as a reference and a centerportion to be extracted. FIG. 13B indicates a state in which theoperation controller (i.e., the omnidirectional camera 100 or anexternal operation controller) is vertically oriented and supported.

By contrast, FIG. 13A indicates a transformed spherical image and acenter portion to be extracted when the operation controller is inclinedfrom the attitude indicated in FIG. 13B and the point of interestindicated in FIG. 13B is moved downward. FIG. 13C indicates atransformed spherical image and a center portion to be extracted whenthe operation controller is rotated around the axis of the operationcontroller from the attitude indicated in FIG. 13B and the point ofinterest indicated in FIG. 13B is moved to the right.

As illustrated in FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, and FIG. 13C, in the presentembodiment, coordinate transformation is performed on a spherical imagebased on the point of interest determined by the data output from asensor such as the attitude sensor, and a portion of the spherical imageon which the coordinate transformation has been performed is extracted.Accordingly, a displayed image to be output is generated. In a preferredembodiment, a center portion of the transformed spherical image isextracted to generate as a display image an image extracted from aspherical image around a point of interest.

According to the embodiment described as above, a display imageextracted from a spherical image, about which a viewer does not feelawkward, can be generated with a small amount of load. According to thepreferred embodiment, coordinate transformation is performed such thatan image having a point of interest at the center is placed at a centerportion of a spherical image where the amount of distortion is small.Accordingly, a viewer can view a natural-looking image without using aspecial-purpose viewer. Moreover, the coordinate transformation isintegrated into the omnidirectional camera 100 for performing zenithcorrection, and no extra instrumentation cost is required for theomnidirectional camera 100. Further, the power consumption and theamount of heat generation in image processing can also be reduced.

According to the embodiments as described above, an image processingsystem, image processing method, program, and an imaging system can beprovided in which a natural-looking display image of an object image canbe generated for a viewer with a small amount of load.

In the embodiments described above, the image processing system and theimaging system are described with reference to the omnidirectionalcamera 100. However, the configuration of the image processing systemand imaging system is not limited to the embodiments described above.

In a further alternative embodiment, some of the functional units 202 to224 may be implemented in a distributed manner on an at least oneexternal image processing device such as a personal computer, a server,and a computer that can operate as an operation controller. In aparticular embodiment, the point-of-interest determining unit 214, theimage rotating unit 216, the transformed-spherical-image generation unit218, the extraction unit 220, the magnifying and letterbox adding unit222, and the output unit 224 as described above may be provided for anomnidirectional camera that includes the imaging elements 130A and 130Band serves as an imaging device, or may be provided for an imageprocessing device separated from the omnidirectional camera. Note thatthe operation controller may be a device separated from theomnidirectional camera or the image processing device, or the operationcontroller may be a device separated from both the omnidirectionalcamera and the image processing device.

Further, the order in which the joining process by the joining unit 204,the image rotation by the image rotating unit 216, and the extractionprocess by the extraction unit 220 are performed is not limited to theorder of the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3 . Apart from the order ofprocesses (1) in which joining is performed, image rotation isperformed, and then extraction is performed and output is performed, theorder of the processes may be as follows in alternative embodiments. (2)Image rotation is performed, joining is performed, and then extractionis performed and output is performed. (3) linage rotation is performed,extraction is performed, and then joining is performed and output isperformed. (4) Joining is performed, extraction is performed, and thenimage rotation is performed and output is performed. (5) Extraction isperformed, joining is performed, and then image rotation is performedand output is performed.

(6) Extraction is performed, image rotation is performed, and thenjoining is performed and output is performed. Furthermore, imagerotating and extraction may be performed for moving images.

The functional units as described above is realized by acomputer-executable program written by legacy programming language orobject-oriented programming language such as assembler language, Clanguage, C++ language, C# language, and Java (registered trademark),and the program can be distributed via telecommunication line or uponbeing written on a computer-computer-readable recording medium such asROM, electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM),electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), flash memory,flexible disk, compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), compact discrewritable (CD-RW), digital versatile disk (DVD)-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW,Blu-ray disc, secure digital (SD) card, and magneto-optical disc (MO).All or some of the functional units described above can be implemented,for example, on a programmable device such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA), or as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).To implement such functional units on the programmable device, circuitconfiguration data (bit stream data) to be downloaded to theprogrammable device can be distributed using a recording medium thatstores data written in, for example, a hardware description language(HDL), Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language(VHDL), air Verilog HDL.

Embodiments of the present invention has been described above, but thepresent invention is not limited to those embodiments and variousapplications and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the invention.

Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Forexample, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodimentsmay be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other withinthe scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An imaging system, comprising: an imagingcapturing device including a plurality of lens optical systems and aplurality of imaging devices; a receiver configured to receive a signal;and processing circuitry configured to generate a spherical image basedon a plurality of images captured by the imaging capturing device;perform a coordinate transformation on the spherical image based on thesignal to generate a coordinate transformed spherical image; determinean area of the coordinate transformed spherical image based on thesignal; crop a portion of the coordinate transformed spherical imageincluding the area; and output the portion to a display position,wherein the signal includes an attitude angle used to determine thearea, a point of interest in the spherical image is determined based onthe signal including the attitude angle, and the circuitry performs thecoordinate transformation to move the point of interest to a center ofthe spherical image.
 2. The imaging system according to claim 1, whereineach time the signal changes, the processing circuitry performs thecoordinate transformation, the portion is changed, and the processingcircuitry outputs the portion for display at the display position. 3.The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the portion is croppedfrom the coordinate transformed spherical image so as to include acenter of the coordinate transformed spherical image.
 4. The imagingsystem according to claim 2, wherein the portion is cropped from thecoordinate transformed spherical image so as to include a center of thecoordinate transformed spherical image.
 5. The imaging system accordingto claim 1, wherein the attitude angle is measured using a sensor, andthe sensor includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyroscopesensor, and a geomagnetic sensor.
 6. The imaging system according toclaim 1, further comprising an image acquisition circuit configured toobtain the plurality of images from the plurality of imaging devices. 7.The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the processingcircuitry is further configured to obtain the plurality of images fromthe plurality of imaging devices.
 8. The imaging system according toclaim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of lens optical systems has aprescribed angle of view, the angles of view are joined together to meeta solid angle of 4π steradian, and the spherical image is generatedbased on the plurality of images.
 9. A method of processing a sphericalimage, the method comprising: receiving a signal; generating thespherical image based on a plurality of images captured by a imagingcapturing device; performing a coordinate transformation on thespherical image based on the signal to generate a coordinate transformedspherical image; determining an area of the coordinate transformedspherical image based on the signal; cropping a portion of thecoordinate transformed spherical image including the area; andoutputting the portion of the coordinate transformed spherical image toa display position, wherein the signal includes an attitude angle usedto determine the area, a point of interest in the spherical image isdetermined based on the signal including the attitude angle, and theperforming the coordinate transformation moves the point of interest toa center of the spherical image.
 10. The method according to claim 9,further comprising: performing the coordinate transformation each timethe signal changes; changing, each time the signal changes, the portionof the coordinate transformed spherical image to be cropped on which thecoordinate transformation has been performed; and displaying the changedportion.
 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the portion iscropped from the coordinate transformed spherical image by the croppingso as to include a center of the coordinate transformed spherical image.12. The imaging system according to claim 1, wherein the portion of thecoordinate transformed spherical image includes the point of interest.13. The imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising: adisplay device, wherein the processing circuitry outputs the portion tothe display device, and the display device displays the portion at thedisplay position.
 14. The method according to claim 9, wherein theportion of the coordinate transformed spherical image includes the pointof interest.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable recording mediumstoring computer executable instructions which, when executed by acomputer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising: receiving asignal; generating a spherical image based on a plurality of imagescaptured by a imaging capturing device; performing a coordinatetransformation on the spherical image based on the signal to generate acoordinate transformed spherical image; determining an area of thecoordinate transformed spherical image based on the signal; cropping aportion of the coordinate transformed spherical image including thearea; and outputting the portion to a display position, wherein thesignal includes an attitude angle used to determine the area, a point ofinterest in the spherical image is determined based on the signalincluding the attitude angle, and the performing the coordinatetransformation moves the point of interest to a center of the sphericalimage.